milk paint questions

[Jeff Bartley]

Good morning Folks!
I'm planning a bookcase build for our daughters room and in order to give it some lively color I plan to use milk paint. What I hope to achieve with this is a 'washcoat' look where the grain will still show through. Planning to use oak for the case and was wondering what mix ratio would be recommended; I've read that 2:1 water to powder is best for a washcoat but I wanted to put it to the jury here!
I'd also love to hear if anyone has experience with using a varnish over milk paint, either oil or water based. I'd kinda like to try the water based just to see how well it works. This case is gonna need a protective coat of something---our daughter is a two-year old force of destruction and I'm very confident that she'll be jumping up and down on this case within it's first two weeks!
Thanks,
Jeff

[Scott Holmes]

Your plan sounds as if it will work just fine.

Best practice is to go through your entire finishing schedule on a piece of scrap wood. Don't skip the sanding or any other steps. If color is involved I will often do a sample piece with different mixes to end up with several "colors" (ataully shades) so I have a coice of final finish options. Keep trake of each step on each section if you do more than one so you will know hthe steps used to achieve that result.

Many times I thought, "oh I know what I did I can remember the steps' ...Well guess what, I could not remember!

[Phil Thien]

I've done milk paint topped w/ several coats of Formby's wipe-on tung oil (which is really just a wiping varnish). The result is a nice, very durable finish.

I don't like water-based finishes for top-coats if durability is important. The water-based top coats have not been very durable for me.

[Jeff Bartley]

Thanks guys,
Scott--writing everything down is solid advise! I've never regretted taking notes during a build but many times I have regretted not keeping good notes.
Phil-- I really like the wiping varnishes and have also used Formby's with good success. The water-based finishes are still unfamiliar and I'm glad I asked 'cause this case is gonna need a durable finish!!!
If everything turns out good I'll try and post some pics. I must give credit to the inspiration for using milk paints--it was viewing a Fine Ww'ing video which included a slide show of Micheal Cullens' shop. He built a tool cabinet that was painted with milk paint and I haven't been able to get the image out of my head! When my wife put in the request for a book case for our daughter's room I knew I'd have to use milk paint on it!

[Phil Thien]

Oh one more thought... The oil-based top-coats probably change the color of the underlying milk paint a lot more than the water-based. But both of them change the look of the milk paint conserably (they darken it up quite a bit).

Like Scott said, test, test, test on scrap.

[Todd Burch]

Hi Jeff. I've used a lot of milk paint. Ditto as above - test on scrap.

A 2 water:1 milk paint will certainly give a wash coat. Even one of 1:1 will give a wash coat - just a lot more color. 3 coats to opaque with a 1:1 mixture.

Varnish changes the color considerably - it darkens it up, or depending if lighter in color - saturates it.

Todd

[Jeff Bartley]

I've got some testing to do for sure! I may even try a few different topcoats. The plan is to use a 'marigold' yellow on oak which I hope will add a bit of brown to the color. Then I'll have to see what effect the topcoat has. I might have to switch to maple if it gets too dark.
Anyone have a favorite milk paint??

[Todd Burch]

Old Fashioned Milk Paint - great customer service, prompt shipping.

Todd

[Scott Holmes]

Formby's Tung oil Finish is an alkyd resin/soya oil varnish (highly thinned ~80% thinner).
Alkyd resin/soya oil varnish will not yellow much and the color shift will be very slight.

Varnishes made from linseed oil (every poly I have seen is made with linseed oil) will yellow and darken with age. Urethane resins also darken with time. So a poly will have a dramatic color shift over milk paint and will continue to darken for months or years.

Of course phenolic resin varnishes will have the darkest ambering affect, regardles of the oil used to make the varnish.

[Ed Gibbons]

I have used dead flat water based top coat over milk paint. Great results.